This invention relates generally to a printer applying a matrix of dots on a recording paper to form characters and more particularly to a manually operated dot printer designed for low power consumption. Manually operated printers, as represented by Japanese Utility Model Laid Open Publication No. 55-53244, effect printing under pressure, or drive a printing wheel with energy stored in a spring as a result of applied pressure. Such printers require two or three SUM-3 cells for generating energy to select characters on the printing wheel in addition to the manually produced energy. Thus such printers cannot be incorporated into a pocket sized calculator. A pocket sized calculator with a printer of the discharge printing type, or thermal printing type, consumes a large amount of electrical energy necessary for moving the printing head and feeding the printing paper. Thus such a printer requires frequent replacement of cells, a disadvantage which renders this type of calculator unsatisfactory from the viewpoint of practicality.
What is needed is a dot printer of small size, suitable to be carried in a pocket, and using low power to produce good quality printing.